Full-body scanners? They may see you naked, but they aren't seeing large, …

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The TSA isn't the most respected of governmental agencies right now, but at least it comes by the poor reputation honestly. The lack of standards, inconsistent application of searches and policies, and occasional rude agent all combine to make flying an unpleasant experience. It's often derided as "security theater," which describes the experience of Mythbuster Adam Savage before a recent flight.

Savage was put through the full-body scanner, and while he joked that it made his penis feel small, no one seemed to notice the items he was carrying with him. The video tells the rest of the story.

And I notice I brought this thing with me...

If the TSA thinks you can hijack a plane with saline solution and nail clippers, Savage's 12" razor blades are the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. Since the blades weren't anywhere near Savage's privates, they likely would have been missed by the pat-down as well.

339 Reader Comments

Love MythBusters -- while it's true that they don't rigorously follow the scientific method, the show is still sweet....and Kari is easy on the eyes.

And cue the we-need-these-for-our-protection crowd in 3...2...1

she's a lot nicer looking after the baby and losing weight. she was chubby even before she got pregnant and now she looks more normal.

She was always a cutie. Your opinion of normal is wrong.

Sorry Mortus, Skicow is correct.

I hear there is this strange thing called an opinion, where different people can have different thoughts that don't agree, yet neither is a fact! How odd!

No, Kari = Hot is fact. Kari = Not hot pre baby is not fact and is clearly the result of a broken mind.

On topic to the story, I flew through 4 airports in 4 different countries before someone noticed the 6" foldout knife I had in my carryon that I didn't even realize was there. It only got spotted because I thought I left my watch at a checkpoint and went through it twice. So yes, your security theatre gets a bit old.

Just a month ago I flew with a box cutter in my laptop bag. I had been visiting a client office and used it to open boxes for computer equipment I was setting up. I didn't even realize that I'd done it until I got home and took it out of my bag.

What I don't understand, is with all these "security" precautions, why isn't the TSA required to regularly test the security at every airport? They should be paying guys to walk through with razor blades, knifes, fake explosives, etc. to identify weak points in the security. The fact that they don't do this (correct me if I'm wrong) is just one example of how it's really just security theatre and not real security.

He was going for laughs. He did not really make it through security with those.

[citation needed]

The words and his actions on stage are inconsistent. His words seem to indicate the blades was in his laptop bag but his action make it seem it was on his person allowing him to make a crack about the full body scan.

But of course the blades was in his laptop bag as his words clearly indicate so his point about the body scans rings hollow and was done merely for comic effect.

Some here are so gullible. They see their "geek hero" making a joke at TSA's expense and want to believe because they feel validated.

It is inexcusable the blades got past security as a carry-on. I'll give him that.

What's so completely stupid is these machines are better replaced by A trained drug/explosive dog.

Considering a detection dog can only work for a short time without resting, a single trained dog wouldn't do much in that setting - you would need a bunch ^^

Hmm, let's see and add up the math.

Dog has better stamina than a man, so he should be able to work an 8 hour shift of walking around the airport and drinking water/coffee with his trainer.

Need more than one dog. Let's be conservative and estimate the cost of a german shepard pup at $2000, professionally bred. Six months of training, let's say $30,000. Sallary for the guy walking him around, probably $50,000 per year, but you'd have this guy running the scanner, so his salary nets out. So, initial investment $32,000 and ongoing of $10,000 per year (food bills, vet bills, etc).

Cost of Scanner : $150,000 a pop.

So for every scanner, you can get 3 dogs and keep them in the airport for 2 years working. They're well received by the public, people like dogs, kids like dogs.

Scanners are hated by the public, and groping kids in public not only makes the TSA agents feel like scum, it makes everyone think of them as scum.

He was going for laughs. He did not really make it through security with those.

[citation needed]

The words and his actions on stage are inconsistent. His words seem to indicate the blades was in his laptop bag but his action make it seem it was on his person allowing him to make a crack about the full body scan.

But of course the blades was in his laptop bag as his words clearly indicate so his point about the body scans rings hollow and was done merely for comic effect.

Some here are so gullible. They see their "geek hero" making a joke at TSA's expense and want to believe because they feel validated.

It is inexcusable the blades got past security as a carry-on. I'll give him that.

So you're saying people saying that TSA is ineffective are gullible because of a story showing how ineffective the TSA can be? You think the point is that it's better if they fail their job one way, instead of this way?

So you're saying people saying that TSA is ineffective are gullible because of a story showing how ineffective the TSA can be? You think the point is that it's better if they fail their job one way, instead of this way?

Don't be so hard on PSD Ben. He's got a difficult job. Astroturfing for the TSA is pretty hard these days, it's like trying to paint a pile of buffalo droppings pink and convince everyone it's cotton candy.

He was going for laughs. He did not really make it through security with those.

The christmas after 9/11 I took a flight to see relatives and, going through screening, walked through the metal detector without remembering to clear my pockets without so much as a ring, despite my keys + change, while my mom had her purse pulled from the X-Ray machine and was told she couldn't take her nail clippers.

So she got an envelope and mailed them home.

Upon mentioning to her that the metal detector didn't work once in the terminal she whispered in my ear: "They only asked for 'the nail clipper', there's two more in there..."

I come bearing gifts of a hastily-rendered transcript for the aurally challenged:

Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Adam Savage.

Adam Savage: Thank you.

That's awesome. Thank you. How're you doin', Seattle?

That's good. I'm having some fun here too.

Ok, ok. Pirate song is coming later. That's the time to yell some sh' out.

So, I have this pre-flight plan. I take some strange things home in my laptop bag from work, as you can imagine. And so, before I get on a plane, some of those things are not only esoteric and potentially dangerous, but also expensive and hard to find, so I go through my laptop bag every time I fly to make sure nothing nefarious gets on there, except today.

I'm going through the TSA checkpoint, and they're doing the thing where they're yelling at you while you're doing what they're yelling at you to do. Then, just before I go through the scanner, they put me through the body scanner [poses with hands above head], which for some reason makes my penis feel really small. Then, I get onto the airplane, and I notice that I brought this thing with me. [takes cardboard tube from inner jacket pocket and pulls two metal strips out] Two twelve-inch long steel razor blades! And I'm like, "WTF TSA?" You're going to look at my junk, and somehow you miss this? My tiny junk is offended! Oh, and a whole bunch of nuts and bolts that were in there too, which must have looked, like, really dangerous...no, I don't know. So if anyone has a...I'm not flying back with these...does anyone have a two-bladed foam carver and you want a pair of blades? I'll give these out after the show. The esoteric tool prize!

So you're saying people saying that TSA is ineffective are gullible because of a story showing how ineffective the TSA can be? You think the point is that it's better if they fail their job one way, instead of this way?

I can't watch the video at work, but psd seems to be butthurt that Adam makes a crack about the full body scanners when the razor blades were in his laptop bag and thus in the bag scanner. Yes, a failure of the bag scanner does not equate a failure of the body scanner, but 12" blades making it thru security is ridiculous. I mean, Adam could shave Andre the Giant (if he were alive) w/blades that size

Shannara wrote:

Hagen wrote:

Yes except you targeted the wrong one. Sword was the one who said she is more normal looking now. Mortus was backing up skicow

Ugh, I didn't realize that. I have been pwned!

Don't sweat it, the nested comments here can make it difficult sometimes

You're not safe. No one is. The truth is terrorism just isn't that much of a threat compared to the rest of your day to day life.

The probability of dying in a car crash turns out to be small despite the horrific pictures and stories. Does this mean seat belts are just there to inconvenience motorist and air bags and anit-lock brakes are only there for boosting automakers bottom line?

Or is the probability small because we take certain steps in response to certain dangers?

Regarding the use of trained dogs and handlers: they are considerably more expensive (over a lifetime) than a scanning machine.

Yes, but they have the advantage of not exposing the public to possibly dangerous x-rays (note the millimeter radiowave scanners I'm not concerned about), do not invade your privacy (unless they shove their nose into your junk, but that's just what dogs do), and do not grope your child, and do not take naked pictures of you.

There are other advantages, they're mobile and have very very sensitive noses. Think about terrorists sneaking in a binary or trinary explosive, one bit at a time. The scanner won't pick it up once it's past security, but a dog would smell it half a terminal away.

As well, on that trip they even swabbed my hands with wet cotton for "explosive residue". The first time the machine didnt read the swab, so they had to re-swab me (which as far as i know would diminish results since they already wetted my hands, thus wiping away any residue there).

What's even more amusing is when you know what those machines are looking for, and what can give false positives.

You're not safe. No one is. The truth is terrorism just isn't that much of a threat compared to the rest of your day to day life.

The probability of dying in a car crash turns out to be small despite the horrific pictures and stories. Does this mean seat belts are just there to inconvenience motorist and air bags and anit-lock brakes are only there for boosting automakers bottom line?

Or is the probability small because we take certain steps in response to certain dangers?

Dude, what about lampshades? Sure, you could just put in a lower wattage bulb, but aren't those only there to sell more product? I had a waffle for breakfast!

You're not safe. No one is. The truth is terrorism just isn't that much of a threat compared to the rest of your day to day life.

The probability of dying in a car crash turns out to be small despite the horrific pictures and stories. Does this mean seat belts are just there to inconvenience motorist and air bags and anit-lock brakes are only there for boosting automakers bottom line?

Or is the probability small because we take certain steps in response to certain dangers?

He was going for laughs. He did not really make it through security with those.

psd wrote:

The words and his actions on stage are inconsistent. His words seem to indicate the blades was in his laptop bag but his action make it seem it was on his person allowing him to make a crack about the full body scan.

But of course the blades was in his laptop bag as his words clearly indicate so his point about the body scans rings hollow and was done merely for comic effect.

Some here are so gullible. They see their "geek hero" making a joke at TSA's expense and want to believe because they feel validated.

It is inexcusable the blades got past security as a carry-on. I'll give him that.

Speaking of inconsistant, please reference above. Adam made in through security with those blades. Whether they were on his person or in his bag is irrelevant - he made it onto the plane with them. The point is that with all the extra security including the invasive body scan, it was all moot.

You're not safe. No one is. The truth is terrorism just isn't that much of a threat compared to the rest of your day to day life.

The probability of dying in a car crash turns out to be small despite the horrific pictures and stories. Does this mean seat belts are just there to inconvenience motorist and air bags and anit-lock brakes are only there for boosting automakers bottom line?

Or is the probability small because we take certain steps in response to certain dangers?

Dude, what about lampshades? Sure, you could just put in a lower wattage bulb, but aren't those only there to sell more product? I had a waffle for breakfast!

So you see... scanners.

psd is an obvious shill for the TSA. I've yet to see an intelligent response to objections to the ineffectualness of the TSA's theatre, nor any admission that it could be done effectively in a way that would not cause objections.

Go back to pre-'01 screening measures. Nothing implemented since then has had a measurable effect on "safety."

He was going for laughs. He did not really make it through security with those.

[citation needed]

The words and his actions on stage are inconsistent. His words seem to indicate the blades was in his laptop bag but his action make it seem it was on his person allowing him to make a crack about the full body scan.

But of course the blades was in his laptop bag as his words clearly indicate so his point about the body scans rings hollow and was done merely for comic effect.

Some here are so gullible. They see their "geek hero" making a joke at TSA's expense and want to believe because they feel validated.

It is inexcusable the blades got past security as a carry-on. I'll give him that.

So you're saying people saying that TSA is ineffective are gullible because of a story showing how ineffective the TSA can be? You think the point is that it's better if they fail their job one way, instead of this way?

I'm saying that people here who think this video is a fair crack at body scans are gullible. That the blade got through as a carry-on is unacceptable of course. I'm not defending TSA on that. But Mr Mythbuster onstage presentation about body scan is unfair.

You're not safe. No one is. The truth is terrorism just isn't that much of a threat compared to the rest of your day to day life.

The probability of dying in a car crash turns out to be small despite the horrific pictures and stories. Does this mean seat belts are just there to inconvenience motorist and air bags and anit-lock brakes are only there for boosting automakers bottom line?

Or is the probability small because we take certain steps in response to certain dangers?

You're looking at it wrong, as usual psd. Seat belts didn't exist for a long time and cars were made out of nothing but steel. No crumple zones, no seat belts. If you were in a car crash at any decent speed, you were most likely dead. Car tech improves (making them safer) and seat belts become a requirement. Even with crumple zones and air bags, if we didn't have seat belts, the number of deaths on the road would go up quite a bit annually.

Terrorism is not made an appreciably less likely chance of ruining your day by having these scanners, b/c it is already such a small % chance, far smaller than the chances of being in a car wreck. Seat belts are thus a much more reasonable requirement for driving as an accident is far more likely to occur and when you are in it, w/o a seatbelt you will most likely be in far worse shape than if you hadn't had one. Yes there are circumstances where not having it on worked out best and some where wearing it, you still end up dead, but that's how probability works.

What's so completely stupid is these machines are better replaced by A trained drug/explosive dog.

Considering a detection dog can only work for a short time without resting, a single trained dog wouldn't do much in that setting - you would need a bunch ^^

Well, a really quick google popped up they will have 1,000 scanners and they're estimated to be between $100k to $200k each. (Given the government premium, it is likely closer to $200k) Quick google check for drug dogs estimates them at $5k - $8k. This gives the best case scenario of 40,000 dogs for the price of 1,000 machines or worst case 12,500 dogs. I think 12 dogs could replace 1 machine and since they perform better, it seems like it is the better idea.

Thanks guys, way to teach the terrorists (you know, those guys who as recently as this month tried to kill us) what to do.

I don't really think they need our help. They are professionals............

You have no idea. I travel for a living, and so do the people I work with. We sit around at the hotel in the evenings sometimes and discuss just how useless the security can be. It's actually kind of scary all the different ways we figured out to either get things past security, or how to cause the maximum amount of disruption with the minimal risk if we wanted to.

And we are not professionals at that, so it really kind of hit home to us how little the security really did for our safety. One reason why we hate this invasion of privacy.

If we were really in any danger of "terrorists" public schools would be bombed constantly. After all, what better way to cause "terror" than to kill all of our educators and the future of "Amurka"? They would probably also target the libraries, the shopping malls, the airports (pre-screened areas), train stations, the train tracks themselves, etc.

Much ado about nothing, people. The government wants you scared because a scared populace is an easily controlled populace. The TSA is a farce and does nothing but make Chertoff money.

So you're saying people saying that TSA is ineffective are gullible because of a story showing how ineffective the TSA can be? You think the point is that it's better if they fail their job one way, instead of this way?

Don't be so hard on PSD Ben. He's got a difficult job. Astroturfing for the TSA is pretty hard these days, it's like trying to paint a pile of buffalo droppings pink and convince everyone it's cotton candy.

Take a closer look at his on stage presentation. Pay attention to his words ("nefarious stuff in my laptop bag") and his actions (reaching into his coat) and his subsequent crack about full body scans. It was all manipulated for comic effect but the facts do not support it.

You're not safe. No one is. The truth is terrorism just isn't that much of a threat compared to the rest of your day to day life.

The probability of dying in a car crash turns out to be small despite the horrific pictures and stories. Does this mean seat belts are just there to inconvenience motorist and air bags and anit-lock brakes are only there for boosting automakers bottom line?

Or is the probability small because we take certain steps in response to certain dangers?

Seat belts and anti-lock brakes are not invasive whatsoever. Seat belts are only minimally inconvenient whereas a pat down (a procedure previously reserved only for people actually suspected of criminal activity) or body scan is a highly invasive procedure. Further, you have the choice to not wear a seat belt (unless your jurisdiction has a seat belt law of course). You have no such choice with these security procedures.

So you're saying people saying that TSA is ineffective are gullible because of a story showing how ineffective the TSA can be? You think the point is that it's better if they fail their job one way, instead of this way?

Don't be so hard on PSD Ben. He's got a difficult job. Astroturfing for the TSA is pretty hard these days, it's like trying to paint a pile of buffalo droppings pink and convince everyone it's cotton candy.

Take a closer look at his on stage presentation. Pay attention to his words ("nefarious stuff in my laptop bag") and his actions (reaching into his coat) and his subsequent crack about full body scans. It was all manipulated for comic effect but the facts do not support it.

He clearly said it was in his carry on. He reached into his jacket because he put them there before coming out to show the crowd. He didn't have his carryon with him, likely because it was at the hotel unpacked. You look at it and see nefarious purposes. I look at it and see a straightforward story and an obvious storage place for where to put the razors when going on stage.

You're not safe. No one is. The truth is terrorism just isn't that much of a threat compared to the rest of your day to day life.

The probability of dying in a car crash turns out to be small despite the horrific pictures and stories. Does this mean seat belts are just there to inconvenience motorist and air bags and anit-lock brakes are only there for boosting automakers bottom line?

Or is the probability small because we take certain steps in response to certain dangers?

Seat belts and anti-lock brakes are not invasive whatsoever. Seat belts are only minimally inconvenient whereas a pat down (a procedure previously reserved only for people actually suspected of criminal activity) or body scan is a highly invasive procedure. Further, you have the choice to not wear a seat belt (unless your jurisdiction has a seat belt law of course). You have no such choice with these security procedures.

Note the avoidance behavior, btw. PSD has successfully changed the dialogue from a discussion about the intrusive and useless behavior of the TSA to nitpicking about an unrelated analogy.

Similar to how the TSA has justified their measures, in a way--they have to molest you for your 'safety', ignoring the fact that none of their increased measures have actually stopped anything; all the times that something has been stopped, it's been unrelated to the TSA's measures.

So you're saying people saying that TSA is ineffective are gullible because of a story showing how ineffective the TSA can be? You think the point is that it's better if they fail their job one way, instead of this way?

Don't be so hard on PSD Ben. He's got a difficult job. Astroturfing for the TSA is pretty hard these days, it's like trying to paint a pile of buffalo droppings pink and convince everyone it's cotton candy.

Take a closer look at his on stage presentation. Pay attention to his words ("nefarious stuff in my laptop bag") and his actions (reaching into his coat) and his subsequent crack about full body scans. It was all manipulated for comic effect but the facts do not support it.

You really need to learn how to interpret "facts" he never explicitly said either way where the blades were. Perhaps the reason he missed them was because they were on his person, and thus didn't think to check there for it.